(pounding music) North Carolina, South Carolina.
- You have red versus blue.
- [Jason] Cocky, Rameses, Sir Big Spur, the bands, the cheerleaders, and the dance teams.
(crowd cheers) - You have North versus South.
- [Jason] The spectacle, colors, and pageantry that is college football.
- You have two fan bases that are, might as well be, brother and sister.
They're so closely aligned.
- [Jason] The Gamecocks and Tar Heels kicking off the season in the Duke's Mayo Classic.
- It's great publicity for Charlotte and well deserved publicity for Charlotte.
- [Jason] But games like this don't just happen.
What you see on TV or from the stands is just the cherry on top.
- I am not the only one in charge, but I am one of many.
- [Jason] In the hour leading up to kickoff, there's a beehive of activity.
- Hi, it's nice to meet you.
I'm glad you guys made it.
- [Jason] Cadie Koppenhaver is the director of operations with the Charlotte Sports Foundation.
Her job on game night, dealing with people.
- Owen's going to get him at the south gate.
- [Jason] People like the on field game host.
- Yeah, so you'll be set up at midfield for that first house welcome.
- Okay, great.
- Game officials.
- They're not here yet?
- Well, Darius is over there getting ready.
Eric's on his way over here.
- Okay.
- You're not late.
They're late.
- [Jason] National anthem singer Darius Rucker.
- Do you know Darius?
- Yeah, Rucker.
- Yeah, you wanna say hi?
- [Jason] Even South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster.
- We're gonna have you on camera soon.
We got a camera right here, so we're gonna recognize you.
(crowd cheers) (driving music continues) - [Jason] Cadie is sort of like an air traffic controller.
- Oh my god, can I have some water?
- [Jason] Dealing with people, not planes, although there is that, too.
- So we had to send the flyover.
(crowd cheers) Amazing.
- [Jason] Her game night task, making sure everything happens when it's supposed to happen, every detail down to the minute.
- So I work with the venues to make sure that everything is running smoothly.
- [Jason] Cadie is one of just eight full-time employees working with the Charlotte Sports Foundation.
The 501(c)(3) nonprofit was created a decade ago with one simple goal.
- Bring high-profile sporting events to Charlotte that have economic impact and add to the quality of life.
- The way I describe it and the way we like to see our events are as what are the things that put Charlotte on TV?
What are the events that Charlotteans are proud to go to?
And then what also are the events that help our hospitality industry from tourists coming to town to spend their money, to hotels, restaurants, Ubers, all that.
We want the events that have a great impact for the people who live here and the people who work here and then also the people who visit here.
- [Jason] At the Foundation's South Park offices, a dry erase board hangs in Cadie's office filled with all the things that need to be done to pull off a major event like this.
And it takes months of planning.
- Well, one of the lovely parts of my job is setting up the hotel contracts, doing that contracting process, making sure the teams have all of the rooms they need, the meeting space requirements, check in, check out.
All of that stuff is one of my duties.
(engine whirs) - [Jason] It's all those little details that you'd likely never think about, like making sure the field gets painted, equipment trucks, locker rooms, and team arrivals.
- Kind of all that backend work of making sure the venues are set up, the teams are ready to go.
- So whether that's scheduling, whether that's getting all your vendors, getting all the little bitty details in place, 'cause the little bitty details, that's what matters the most.
- [Jason] Leading the way at the Foundation is executive director Danny Morrison, a man who spent his entire career working in athletic administration, including a nearly decade-long stint as team president of the Carolina Panthers.
- Well, I've been blessed.
I've worked in high school, I've worked in small college, I've worked in major college, conference office, in the NFL and every step along the way, I've had great bosses, great experiences, and now to a certain extent, being here with the Charlotte Sports Foundation is a culmination of all of those experiences.
- Danny Morrison's a great friend and he's done such a tremendous job.
We have so many friends in Charlotte.
(crowd cheers) - [Jason] The Kickoff Classic drawing even more attention as ESPN's popular "College GameDay" program with its 100-member crew broadcasted its weekly three hour pregame show live from Romare Bearden Park.
- You can't pay for the amount of publicity that your university and the city of Charlotte and the game's gonna get for GameDay.
- Over two million people end up watching the show.
When they come to your respective city, it is like the Good Housekeeping stamp of approval.
- We've got a great relationship with the Sports Foundation.
Just being here over the years, really turned to them for a lot of promotion and they're great partners in just helping us spread the word that we're obviously in town and everything that we have to offer.
So it's been very beneficial for us.
- [Jason] As for the game, it was a 31-17 North Carolina victory.
(crowd cheers) Once the stadium cleared out and things calmed down, the Foundation team held a little postgame huddle.
- Credit to all of you, execution was great, we were on time for everything.
It's a testament to attention to detail, planning, staying on top of things, having the strategy and executing strategy throughout.
Great job, y'all should be proud.
I mean, great job.
(group applauds) - [Jason] The Kickoff Classic may be over, but the foundation's work never is.
On November 9th, Virginia Tech and Iowa, two teams from last year's women's basketball Final Four, will meet in the Spectrum Center in the first ever Ally Tipoff.
- It's gonna be the marquee basketball game to help start the season.
- We think it'll be a sold-out crowd.
- [Jason] Then on December 19th and 20th, back-to-back men's and women's basketball doubleheaders at the Spectrum and the second annual Jumpman Invitational.
- North Carolina, Michigan, Florida, Oklahoma, the original four Jordan brand schools for both football and basketball.
- [Jason] Then coming right on the heels of the Jumpman, the Duke's Mayo Bowl game, featuring teams from the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern Conferences.
- This year, our bowl game is on the 27th, so we're expecting teams to come in on the 23rd.
So we'll have a one-day turnaround from our Jumpman Invitational to our bowl week experience.
- I plan and coordinate all of our ancillary events around our games, so that's all the player events, all of the coaches and spouses events when they come to town.
- [Jason] If the goal is to bring high-profile sporting events to the Queen City that enhance the quality of life and have significant economic impact, the Charlotte Sports Foundation is certainly achieving its mission.
- Well, generally, our events have somewhere between 70 and $95 million economic impact for the year.
- The harmony that exists in Charlotte is unmatched compared to other cities our size, and that's kind of the secret sauce.
From the stadiums to CRVA, county, city, Center City Partners, we have incredible support and we have an incredible board that supports our vision of Charlotte being one of the best, if not the best, sports town in America.